A/N: Thank you for your reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Harry Potter.
Chapter 6
Twelve Hours
-..-
-..-
-..-
-.
WFhYRw0KDQoNCg==
Decoding…
QUxQSEENCg0KDQo=
Decoding…
ALPHA.
Decoding…
Decoding…
XXXG-04: 02, status request.
-..-
-..-
-..-
-.
Landing deftly on the doorstep of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Remus didn't even think much of it as his magic slammed open the front door, and he stepped inside amidst the hollering emanating from the portrait of Walburga Black. He adjusted his hold on the prone body in his arms; even as nothing but deadweight, Duo was distressingly light. And yet…
Moody's blood-caked face came to the forefront of his mind.
Sirius came thundering down the stairs, glancing over the foyer in assessment before working on shutting the curtains. Remus didn't pay him any mind, focused on getting to his intended destination and doing what needed to be done.
"Moony- What-" Sirius panted out as Remus moved past him.
Remus shook his head. "Leave her, Sirius," he said. The portrait's annoying screams were not his priority right now, and he was working on a time limit. Duo had a resistance to stunners – something Remus didn't think was even possible. "Come with me."
Sirius was supposed to have set up a guest room for Duo on the second floor while they went to retrieve the boy. It had felt like a lifetime ago now: Severus Snape flooing into the Grimmauld Place kitchen and earning the attention of the small number of Order members present, only to report that Death Eaters had gotten wind of Remus's newfound son. Remus had told only Sirius and Dumbledore about Duo, which meant the Dark Lord's followers had smehow found out, possibly by tailing him unseen. It was likely they planned to attack Duo. Snape had not known when or where, but theorized they'd strike in a moment of vulnerability: possibly when Duo was en-route back home so as to not alarm the Order.
Dumbledore was currently occupied with a meeting at the Ministry, and with the Headmaster's current relationship to the British Ministry of Magic, it was hard to reach out to him for such a quickly-developing situation. Moody, present at Grimmauld Place at the time, had taken over: they'd collect Duo now and bring him to headquarters, where he would stay until they could safely smuggle him out of the country (and preferably, up to the star colonies). The Order members present at the time had been Moody, Sirius, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Emmeline Vance, and Remus himself. Sirius had been stopped from coming with them, given that his mugshot had been spread to the Muggle world and thus Duo may be able to recognize him as an escaped convict, and they wanted the transition to go as smoothly as possible.
They hadn't thought the Death Eaters would move so quickly. Remus had shared the location of Duo's rental cottage with the other Order members, and they planned to apparate directly to its doorstep. When they'd apparated, however, they were bounced off-course by the anti-apparition wards set up around the cottage; wards that had not been present when Remus had escorted Duo back to the cottage earlier in the day.
Anti-apparition wards, or magic wards of any sort, tended to mess with the electronics of the home they covered unless the appliances had already been charmed to withstand it. So when Remus met with anti-apparition wards and then saw the darkened windows of Duo's rental cottage, he thought his heart would stop.
Only a couple of more days, and then Duo would be on his way out of Britain and away from danger. But as always, Remus had failed to protect someone important to him, and Duo had paid the price.
Then Remus had seen the body of the Death Eater.
"The room across from mine," Sirius said from behind him.
It was one of the smaller rooms in Grimmauld Place, but Sirius had cleaned it up nicely given that he had so much time to spend in his home. It was rather bare, thankfully, a single blue velvet armchair pushed into the corner and a canopy bed with a dark wood frame and royal blue bedcovers. The walls were of a matching color; Sirius must have stripped off the wallpaper, which Remus was thankful because magical wallpapers tended to favor moving pictures, which would only alarm the boy in his arms.
Remus set Duo down atop the bedcovers. The boy appeared to still be out cold, but then again, he had taken seven stunners. Did taking that number of stunning spells leave lasting damage?
"What happened? Where are the others?" Sirius asked.
Duo looked absolutely tiny lying atop the bed. How could a boy so small do what he had done?
"Death Eaters were there," Remus said, voice hushed. His hands were trembling as he brushed bangs out of Duo's closed eyes. Sirius cursed behind him but Remus ignored that, instead reaching to behind Duo's neck to unbutton the priest collar wrapped around his son's throat. He cast a quick examination spell, checking for any spell damage or internal physical injuries – nothing. "But they're dead now."
"Good," Sirius bit out. He paused as he finally noticed exactly what Remus was doing: stripping Duo down. The black button-up smelled of blood but Remus couldn't think about that now, Kingsley's words about Rowle's condition ghosting through his mind.
"Duo killed them," Remus continued on. A simple silver cross hung from Duo's neck but the examination spell found nothing odd about it; Remus carefully unclasped it and set it to the side. The white undershirt made the bloodstains more apparent but it was a light splatter, a clear marker none of it was from Duo. Remus used his wand to cut off the shirt, unwilling to jostle the teen more than necessary. "Three Death Eaters, and he killed them by himself."
Remus paused, eyes drawn to his son's bare chest. He was littered with scars: both long and short, thick and thin, round and narrow. Some looked older than others, a map of Duo's history Remus could not understand because it just didn't make sense. It was as if someone had tortured his child.
"Merlin," Sirius breathed beside him, blue eyes fastened on Duo's scarred form.
Time was ticking. Remus glanced at his friend. "Do you have something he can wear? I…have to get him out of these clothes," he explained softly. He'd check for charms or Dark spells that may have been put on the clothes, some way to explain how Duo was able to resist the effects of stunning spells until they came at him with the ferocity of an army.
"…maybe some of Regulus's clothes," Sirius said, edging away. "They might be a bit big but…let me see."
Sirius jogged out of the room, and Remus turned back to the slight teen on the bed. He pulled off the boots carefully, then the socks. He set the belt and black trousers to the side with the shirts and priest collar, then carefully worked his hands over every exposed patch of skin – feeling for anything unusual, any possible hidden injury Duo may have received that the spell may not have caught.
Nothing. His right hand was bruised, and there was another small bruise by his temple, but no broken bones or the like. Remus turned to the pile of clothes on the bed, casting another quick examination spell – again, nothing. They seemed to be regular clothes. Sirius returned with dark blue pajamas, which Remus took from him and then dressed Duo.
"…you said he was a Muggle," Sirius said quietly.
Remus finished the last button on Duo's pajama shirt. "I thought he was," Remus answered, equally soft. But Muggles didn't overpower and kill Death Eaters, weren't immune to stunning spells, didn't rip Moody's magically-enhanced prosthetic eye from his face.
Remus stared down at the unconscious form of his son.
There was no other way.
With a flick of his wand, ropes soared from the tip and bound Duo's wrists to the headboard. Sirius made a startled noise next to him but Remus only checked to make sure the bindings were secure. Should I bind his legs too? Remus wondered. But it wasn't like Duo could untie his bindings with his toes, so Remus felt he didn't have to go that far.
"…Remus."
Remus glanced over to the door. Kingsley stood at the entrance, eyes moving from the two wizards to the silent and bound teen on the bedcovers. Remus turned and picked up Duo's belongings; although the preliminary check was clear, he'd examine them again under more intense examination spells just in case. It was better to be safe than sorry.
"How is Moody?" Remus asked.
Sirius's head swiveled to pin Remus with a wide-eyed look. "You said the Death Eaters were dead!" he hissed.
"Alastor will be fine," Kingsley replied to Remus, voice a reliable calm. "He reinserted his eye after getting the initial injury healed. He- Your boy, he didn't use any magic to do it."
"To do what?" Sirius demanded.
Remus turned away, hands fisted into Duo's belongings. "Duo… He was scared. He must have thought we were the same as the Death Eaters, he- he attacked us and tried to run," he explained in a low voice.
Kingsley inclined his head in agreement. "He ripped out Moody's eye," he said, indicating to his own where Moody's prosthetic eye would have been. Sirius's expression slackened into an overt gape. "It took seven Stunners to bring him down."
"I'll explain what I can to Duo when he's awake," Remus said after a moment.
Kingsley nodded. "It'd be best if he heard it from you. Do those belong to him?" he asked, gesturing to the bundle Remus held.
"Yes, I was going to examine them for any…enchantments," Remus explained.
"I can do that. It'd be better if you stayed here with him," Kingsley said. Remus handled over Duo's belongings to the Auror with a grim look. With a small sigh, he turned back to Sirius – who was now staring over at Duo's unconscious form like he'd never seen anything quite like him before.
"I'm going to wake him," Remus started, moving back over to Duo's bedside. "It's… We should be alone. I don't want him to feel threatened by outnumbering him."
Sirius stared at him. "He killed three Death Eaters and mauled Mad-Eye with his bare hands, Moony, I don't think we're much of a threat," he retorted hollowly. Remus could hear Kingsley's snort of as he turned and left. Remus shot a chiding look at his best friend in the Auror's absence.
Sirius held up his hands in mock-defeat, moving away and towards the door. "Alright, I'll be downstairs," he conceded. Sirius paused in the doorway, glancing back to give Remus a grin. "By the way, Moony – are you sure he's your kid? He's way too pretty to be related to your ugly mug."
"Get out, Sirius."
Sirius's barking laughter was cut off as he shut the door behind him. Remus turned his attention back to his son, waving over the armchair so that he could take a seat, eyes never leaving the boy on the bed.
He was only sixteen.
"Ennervate."
Duo didn't react. His breathing was steady, uninterrupted, but his eyelids did not even twitch. Remus tensed, rising from his seat so that he had a better vantage point, and tried the spell once more – nothing.
Could he be immune to all magic? But that didn't make sense; Duo showed a resistance to stunners but he'd eventually gone under after getting hit by many. It was possible that the number of stunners had inundated the boy's body, perhaps making it difficult to reawaken him with only one spellcaster's magic.
"Duo, please…" Remus started weakly. What could he do now? Keep casting 'ennervate' until the boy woke up? How was it even possible that magic affected Duo in such a strange way? "Ennervate. ...Ennervate. Ennervate!"
There was no change, the steady rise and fall of Duo's chest the only indication he was even alive. Remus's hands trembled at the implications. Remus moved closer, leaning over the slight figure, reaching forward to pull back one eyelid to get a better look at those violet eyes he'd been getting to know. It was possible the sheer number of stunning spells Duo had endured had rendered him into a coma, and whatever strange magic the boy had been using to remain resistant to their spells was another factor that complicated matters.
One hand grabbed him by his wrist, and all Remus saw was violet eyes snapping open before he was jerked forward to meet Duo's oncoming fist. The blow whited out his vision for a short moment, body falling back and to the floor with an audible thump. Remus tried to wait out the disorientation but was given no reprieve; Duo had pinned him to the ground, hands wrapped around his throat.
Remus opened his mouth to say something, anything – but no air could pass into his throat and he jerked violently. Despite his delicate frame, however, Duo was unmoving as he strangled his own father with his lips pulled back into a vicious snarl.
It was there, looking up into cold violet eyes, Remus realized several things in short order: one, Duo was still disoriented - his eyes were unfocused as if he were still waking from a deep sleep. Two, Duo's body on autopilot prompted him into violence. Three, Duo was going to kill him if this continued.
The bedroom door opened just as black dots started to encroach on Remus's vision, and the next thing he knew, Duo was thrown backwards off him and up into the air, a wordless levitation charm leaving him suspended mid-air.
"You motherfucker-!" Duo snapped out. His words were pure vitriol but his movements were strangely coordinated, as if he were trying to catch his equilibrium without gravity at his disposal.
"…I take it the talk didn't go well."
Remus picked himself up off the floor, coughing roughly as his body greedily took in the air it had been denied. Sirius was at his side instantly, helping him to his feet, but the dog Animagus was not the one who had spoken – that was Dumbledore, wand still out and pointed at Remus's son. The sight of the wizened headmaster had Duo going quiet even as he hovered in the air, the boy's bewildered expression almost relieving to Remus because it was the only non-hostile expression he'd seen on Duo's face in the past few hours.
"Holy shit, this cult has it all," came out of Duo's mouth, tone jarringly mocking given his previous behavior. "Laser sticks, shitty opera Phantoms, and now Merlin. What the fuck are you guys smoking?"
Sirius's head whipped around, cloudy expression momentarily dropping in favor of his surprise. "You know about Merlin?" the dog Animagus wheezed out.
Duo tore his eyes away from the Headmaster, glancing over in Sirius's direction. "And whatever you're taking, you need to stop. You're one crack line away from working the street corner," Duo said, voice taking on a perplexingly glib tone. "I hate to be the one to say it, man, but I really don't think you're to anyone's tastes."
Sirius blinked. "Moony, I think your son just called me a whore," he muttered, half-crouched over his fellow Marauder. He sounded like he couldn't believe he was having this conversation, but at this point, Remus couldn't shake how surreal it was. Duo was acting far too candid for someone who had reacted so hostile in the past few hours.
"If we're going to be accurate," Remus managed out hoarsely. "He called you an unattractive prostitute with a drug problem."
Dumbledore stepped fully into the room now, although he made no move to release Duo from the levitation charm. Duo glanced over the three of them but didn't seem bothered at all by his free floating, managing to pull himself into a cross-legged seated position. This was another indication that something just wasn't quite right with the boy, some animal instinct in Remus warning him that his own son was a present danger. A normal teen didn't get apprehended by strangers and then idled around while being held at wandpoint.
"I think we can safely rule out the Imperius Curse, as well as Polyjuice Potion given the time," Dumbledore began, conjuring a second armchair for himself. Duo made no noise at the sudden display of magic but he went very still, violet eyes unblinkingly locked on the suddenly existent piece of furniture and the man who occupied it. Sirius led Remus back over to the armchair by the bed, although the ex-convict remained standing between Remus and the floating Duo.
"I didn't have time to explain anything to him, Headmaster," Remus interjected. Duo made a low choking noise at the title, earning a speculative look from the two Marauders.
Dumbledore's expression turned considering. "Then explanations are long overdue. As well as apologies," he said, with a firm glance in Duo's direction. "For all actions taken this night."
Duo's wide-eyed expression was soon replaced by a slow-growing smile. "How is Discount Captain Kidd? I think it'll be fine if you give that sucker a good wax and then just pop it back in."
Dumbledore's gaze was foreboding. Duo's grin was maddening.
"Duo, we're not here to hurt you," Remus managed out, fingers massaging at his own throat. It hurt to even talk but he needed to get the words out before things escalated further. Duo's eyes flitted over to him, and for just a second, Remus thought he saw something colder than a Dementor's presence in his son's eyes.
"Right," Duo nodded in agreement, expression amiable but painfully insincere. "You're here to help me."
Remus blinked. "I- Well, yes-"
"Awesome. So how does this work?" Duo interrupted brightly. "You got some spirit stones? Healing juice? I ain't picky but if Merlin here is in any way involved in the juice making, I might start to have second thoughts."
Remus blanched.
"Juice?" Sirius echoed in confusion.
"There's no juice! Duo, this isn't a cult," Remus said.
Duo gave Remus a plainly disbelieving look as he pointed at Dumbledore. "Oh, so this is just an insanely-dedicated LARP club, then? Is there paperwork involved? I hope there's a villainous song being sung when I write my name on the dotted line, otherwise you're wasting all your potential."
Sirius was looking at Duo as if he'd never seen anything quite like him, which given Sirius's history, said a lot about Duo. "Definitely not Imperius," the dog Animagus murmured.
Duo was now rocking backwards and forwards, a small frown marring his lips. His eyes were glancing around the room, notably lingering under their feet. "Never seen an anti-gravity chamber like this..." he was muttering lowly. It seemed almost like Duo was expecting to flip over but the levitation charm kept him upright.
Whatever Duo may think of them, he surely understood his own situation: he was outnumbered and held captive, however benignly, by the people in the room. And yet here he was, sarcasm dripping from his voice and absurdly candid in his reactions. It was disconcerting how easily Duo interacted with them, not at all perturbed by their earlier interactions. Duo had killed people, had mutilated Moody, had been rendered unconscious and then taken to an unknown location. Never mind his snappy remarks, Duo should be overtly panicking - but instead he was making jokes while taking in his surroundings.
There were too many things off about Duo. His abilities, his reactions, his hostility and violence, his thin body marred with scars; it was a complete antithesis to the boy Remus had thought he'd known earlier in the week.
There was no wolf in Duo - but there was something else. Remus just didn't know what.
"Mr. Maxwell," Dumbledore started efficiently. "I'd like to have this conversation in a civilized manner, perhaps over a cup of tea, if you're amenable?"
"I take mine with sugar," Duo told the man blithely.
Dumbledore weighed the words, recognizing Duo's attitude for what it was – a distraction. Remus understood the man's hesitance; twice within the past few hours, Duo had attacked Order members and had to be magically restrained from doing further damage. If this had been anyone but Duo, Remus would have argued for more control measures.
But this wasn't.
"Duo, we're not going to hurt you," Remus said. "We'll explain everything – about the men that attacked you and why they did. Please…no more violence."
Duo went quiet, eyes stalled on Remus's pleading expression. His lack of expression was one of the most frightening things Remus had ever seen; Duo was such a naturally expressive person that when his face went cold, Remus could easily recall that this was the same person who had gouged out Moody's eye.
"Momentary truce then?" Duo mused, smile back on his face. A fake smile, Remus recognized that now. Had Duo ever shown him anything sincere? The idea that his son hadn't sent a spike directly to Remus's heart.
Dumbledore nodded in agreement, lowering Duo back to the ground. Duo's eyes fastened onto the man's outstretched wand, eyebrows climbing. It was one of the most understated reactions to magic Remus had ever seen, but considering Duo had killed three wizards, mutilated one former Auror, and nearly strangled a werewolf without sustaining much damage himself – perhaps wands were considered archaic to Newtypes.
"Are you gonna tell me how you guys do that?" Duo asked, indicating to Dumbledore's wand.
Sirius glanced at him, expression bemused. "What do you mean? It was just a simple levitation charm," he pointed out.
"A what?" Duo stared.
"Do you Newtypes not have levitation charms?" Sirius asked.
Duo stared at the ex-convict, then turned violet eyes on Remus. "He's speaking English, right?" the braided boy demanded. "I swear to god, I don't know what you guys are saying half the fucking time, and English is my native tongue!"
"...Mr. Maxwell," Dumbledore started with a barely-detectable tone of surprise coloring his words. "We're wizards."
The boy's full-body pause set off Remus's internal alarm bells. "What?" Duo uttered weakly, clear shock making it more a statement than a question.
"Duo," Remus said with wide eyes. "You- You do know magic is real, right?"
Duo's flabbergasted expression was so real that Remus couldn't even laugh at it.
AC 196 July 20
The melody started haunting. It was the only way Heero thought to describe it; it brought up some distant feeling, like a mission in the early morning hours, like planting explosives beneath the bunks of unsuspecting soldiers. It was the feeling of mourning before having something to mourn, unsettling but visceral.
Eleven hours and 53 minutes.
Then the tune changed, abrupt and scattering. It took to a run, a playful glide, the feeling of sand under his feet and the smell of the sea in the air. It reminded Heero of a beach long past, of his first taste of tropical fruit, of the feeling of the world suddenly being so much larger than just his narrow view of its battlefields.
Eleven hours and 55 minutes.
The music dropped once more into somber. Heero tasted the blood in his throat then, smelled the gunpowder in the air, felt the burn of the flame because he'd tried to touch. He remembered Sylvia Noventa aiming the gun, recalled the way the tears had seeped into her lashes but still, even then with shaking fingers – she did not pull the trigger. So unlike Heero, who had pulled the trigger countless times, who had pressed the button to set off the explosives, who had operated death in the form of machinery – and still his fingers had never once shaken.
Eleven hours and 57 minutes.
The music spiked into a faster pace, a harried tone in contrast to the prior solemnity. Discordant and beautiful, jarring and vibrant and sweet: Duo, beaten and broken and smiling, rising on trembling legs and asking if Heero really was going to kill him; Duo, stitching up a gash, nearly breathless with laughter as he tries to finish telling Heero some dirty joke he'd heard from one of the Sweepers; Duo, underneath him, one hand clawing at his back to pull Heero closer, the other interlocked with Heero's own.
Eleven hours and 58 minutes.
The score ends with two final, disparate notes. Heero's eyes move away from the screen of his laptop and the quiet messaging system he'd been keeping watch on for hours now, focusing on the slender form of his friend as the blonde relaxed from his position. Quatre moved over to the gray armchair where he'd left his violin case, reverently settling his instrument and bow back into their respective linings.
"Niccolo Paganini," Quatre said in answer to Heero's unspoken question. "Caprice for Solo Violin, Op. 1 No.4. Sometimes I enjoy the emotions it evokes."
"It's nice," Heero replied, voice neutral.
Quatre's smile was fleeting as he shut the violin case.
Twelve hours.
Twelve hours - that was the allotted time limit given for the Alpha messaging system; an emergency messaging system the pilots only relied on to assess dire needs. If a reply did not come within 12 hours, the worst was assumed. Quatre would never have used it unless he had no choice, and so when Heero saw the Arab boy's message to their missing friend on it, he had sought the blonde out for more information.
Quatre's heart never lied.
"Start at L-2," the blonde boy began. His voice had lost its wistful edge, replaced by the core of steel that had guided Quatre Raberba Winner into war. "03 will rendezvous with you at 02's last known address."
Heero did not ask Quatre if he was sure about this – because Heero knew Quatre, knew the boy would not dare infringe upon Duo's need for time and space unless he absolutely believed it necessary.
And if Duo was hurt, or captured, or worse – then they would find him, one way or another.
End Chapter 6
A/N: I headcanon Duo spends his time captured pissing off his captors. It would be an effective way to lull them into a false sense of security, and would have even worked on the Order if Duo hadn't already killed three people and mauled Moody.
Story Notes
-Duo and Magic:
Duo was actually awake after Remus cast the first 'ennervate' but was pretending to be unconscious to better assess the situation.
Reviewer Reply Corner:
27aquarrow72: You're the flatterer! 3 Thank you so much for the support!
Akumu Nokami: I'm happy that you like it! I know it started off kinda slow, so I had been a bit worried I would be the only one enjoying it, lol~
kyothefallenkit: Granted! :D
Pat: Nope, not abandoned, but my update speed is shit, haha~
TrenchcoatMan: An interesting theory! But you'll have to keep reading to find out~ The action scene with Duo vs wizards was fun to write - does that seem sadistic? Hm... - but yeah, I agree with you. Duo wouldn't be one to trust easily, and I hope to show how that trust is earned as the story progresses. I wanna say that Duo's resistance is both a Newtype thing and a G-Pilot thing; it's because Duo is both that he can even manage some feats, after all. ;)
Catcrazzed: I'm looking forward to more Remus-Duo interactions, too! I love me some family moments, especially moments between a war-weary werewolf (alliteration!) and a child soldier. ;)
Shadow: Duo's reaction upon seeing his shrine/desk is something that should be treasured.
wind dancer1981: Thank you! :)
Thank you for reading!
Please be kind and drop a review! :)
